Boots on the Ground
by catartify
Summary: "Mate we are seriously fucked," Draco said, letting his head fall back against the table and closing his eyes. Harry spat out blood from the corner of his mouth, "You think so?" he replied sarcastically, still catching his breath. Also known as the one where Harry and Draco go back in time to save the world.


Harry turned the corner at breakneck speeds, losing his balance and sliding on the stone. His hands grappled for purchase on the blood slick floor; his feet searching for traction, continuing to run, barely wasting a second. He flinched and put his hands up to wrap around his head as he felt curses whiz past his ear and connect with the marble wall at the end of the corridor. He threw a stunning spell over his shoulder not bothering to see if it connected as he turned another corner, running straight into a tall set of double doors.

He burst through them into the easily recognizable foyer of Malfoy Manor, where most of the battle was taking place. The once immaculate and spacious room was now littered with rubble and bodies. The green and red of spells cast an ominous glow on the furiously fighting group battling twenty some death eaters. Harry ducked as an unrecognizable spell flew over his head, the movement sending him tumbling forward. He slid on his knees and pushed himself off the floor with his hands as dozens more spells were aimed at him. He frantically half ran half crawled behind the closest thing he deemed suitable enough for cover. It happened to be a heavy stone table that had been blasted onto its side. He paused and tried to catch his breath.

Someone threw themselves over the table and rolled, overshooting and missing the protection of the table. A slew of curses followed, almost blowing the trusty barrier to bits. The blonde man scurried to get back to its safety. Harry glanced over and felt more than he saw a bruised and bloody Draco Malfoy slump down beside him. Malfoy poked his head out and around the table only to snap it back in and bring his arms up to protect his face as spells shot by, he slid closer to Harry to get out of the line of fire.

"Mate we are seriously fucked," Draco said, letting his head fall back against the table and closing his eyes. Harry spat out blood from the corner of his mouth, "You think so?" he replied sarcastically, still catching his breath. There were a few moments of tense silence as they listened to the fighting.

"What do we do?" Malfoy asked, wide eyes revealing how scared he was. Harry couldn't blame him. He heard the death eaters that had been chasing him burst into the room. His tongue shot out nervously to lick the cut on his lip. They both knew what they were going to do, but that didn't make it any easier.

"We have to fight." He said, looking over at the man beside him. Draco nodded, "Damn right we do Potter. If I'm dying with you I'm raising hell on my way out." Malfoys eyes turned fierce and Harry couldn't help but clench his jaw.

"On three," he said. Draco gave him a smile that looked more like a grimace.

"One," he started. Harry positioned himself so that he could easily dart out from their hiding place.

"Two," he heard Draco say with a steely voice. Malfoy took a deep breath beside him before they both yelled "Three!" Leaping from behind the table in unison, the determination in their hearts and the hell fire in their eyes was no match for the gathering of death eaters awaiting them. Harry immediately searched for his friends. Ron and Hermione battled back to back, Neville a masked man twice his size and Harry caught a glimpse of curly blonde hair on the floor, although he quickly looking away. He did not see Luna fighting with the rest of his friends. He could tell that they were not winning the fight. Outmatched a dozen to one the odds were stacked against them. Harry was almost relieved when Voldemort appeared. He was so tired. With a casual flick of his wand all the masked death eaters were pushed against the wall. He stood shoulder to shoulder with his friends, solid in their defiance.

"How does it feel to lose" Voldemort cackled, lifting his arms triumphantly.

"Go to hell" Ron snarled. The victorious gleam in Voldemorts snake eyes did not dim.

"You will be the first to die" he declared raising his wand, and before Harry could move a green light hit Ron in the chest.

Harry couldn't hear anything except for ringing in his ears. His body moved without thinking, catching Ron and guiding him to the floor. He pulled Ron's head onto his lap. He didn't hear Hermione screaming, or the Death Eaters laughing. He was searching Ron's face. Looking for the giveaway that this wasn't real. His face was still twisted into defiance, his mouth screwed shut and his eyebrows pushed together. Another green light illuminated Ron's still face and he looked up in time to see Neville running towards Voldemort. He was struck in the shoulder, the force of the spell turning him slightly. His mouth was open in anger and then he crumpled to the floor in a boneless pile. All at once his hearing returned and reality set in. It was deafening. Voldemort's wand turned to Hermione.

"Do it" she whispered, wet tears falling down her cheeks. He heard Draco scream but neither one of them were fast enough to push her out of the way. She fell backwards, her head bouncing on the stone. Draco met his eyes from across Hermione's body, one hand still outstretched to try and knock her out of the way. This had happened too fast. They had been fighting for their whole lives and in a matter of seconds it was all washed away by a green light.

Voldemort gave a light chuckle, "What an unlikely pair we have here," he spat, gliding into the circle. Harry barely had time to consider the poetic irony of the two boys facing the dark lord together before he was struck down with the cruciatus curse.

His scream didn't come at first, his body not registering the pain, like when you stick your hand in water so hot it beings to feel cold. Finally, his body spasmed and allowed him to scream, echoing off the chamber walls and reverberating inside his skull. He couldn't tell when the spell had been lifted, the pain like electrical shocks still racing through his nerves causing his body to shake. He heard Draco hit the floor with a thump beside him but couldn't hear anything coming from him. He tried to peel open his sticky eyelids to see if he was dead but his body wouldn't cooperate. Finally, once the tremors subsided slightly he had the energy to barley open one of his eyes, the other was pressed into the floor. He saw Draco jerking on the ground, too proud to scream in front of his former allies. And so, it went, taking turns being tortured by the Dark Lord, Harry couldn't enjoy each respite from the pain as he knew it was only because his friend was being tortured instead. Draco screamed sometime later, finally broken.

They both laid on the floor, cheeks pressed hard against the cold stone. They locked eyes and he noticed how pale the blonde was becoming. Harry watched his eyes slip shut as a tear escaped and rolled down his cheek, gathering blood and turning pink before dripping off his nose to mingle with the other fluid on the floor. As he listened to Voldemort's manic laughter he couldn't bring himself to feel anything. There was a pit in his chest that was normally bursting with emotion. The longer he laid there listening to the cracks of Draco's skull on the stone as his body seized and the choked gurgling noise his own screams produced, the less he felt. There was only pain and he would welcome the sweet release of death when it was handed to him.

He felt himself be violently lifted into the air, as if strings were attached to his joints, his body hanging limp as a puppet.

"Harry Potter, not so brave now are you boy?" Voldemort taunted. "Look at me" he whispered. Harry couldn't lift his chin from where it rested against his chest. He felt the same force keeping him afloat violently tug his head up.

"I want you to beg for it. Beg for me to kill you." Harry spat a mixture of blood and saliva at the Dark Lord, speckling his face. With an enraged roar Voldemort flicked his ward and Harry felt his shoulder snap, his arm held behind his head at a sickening angle. His scream died in his throat with a gurgle as hot blood filled his mouth.

"Please," he mouthed, his vocal cords refusing to let him talk.

"What was that?" Voldemort taunted,

"Please," he repeated, his voice breaking.

"Not yet." Voldemort cackled, denying him respite.  
"Dear Draco, has something that I need back."

Voldemort ordered a death eater to shove the elder wand back into Dracos hand from where it had rolled away over the past few hours.

"I will kill you first," Voldemort whispered. Savoring the last moments before he would gain ownership of the elder wand. Raising his wand, the spell was on the tip of his lips and Harrys eyes fell shut, head tilting back and arms held out, awaiting his death.

Before Voldemort could get the fatal words out Harry heard an animalistic scream and he opened his eyes in time to see Draco break the wand in two. As soon as the wand had snapped a force propelled him backwards, his head bounced against the stone. He opened his eyes and saw blonde hair before his vision was engulfed in blinding white light. His ears rung loudly.

Were they dead?

A choked sob worked its way from his chest, he had thought that at least in death he would be comfortable, but his body only ached even more. He could feel his eyes start to roll back and let all the tension out of his body, the white light slowly being replaced with darkness.

"What the fuck," he heard Draco rasp out. Harry couldn't find it within himself to move. Everything was so silent.

"No seriously, what the actual fuck!" Draco said more urgently. Harry willed himself to open his eyes. He was looking up at the ceiling of Hogwarts, not the crumbling and cracked ceiling he remembered it as though. No, this ceiling looked newer, as if it had never seen war.

"What did you do," he moaned, rolling onto his side and curling in on himself when he felt pain radiate from every part of him. Draco didn't respond in favor of groaning as he rolled over.

"Holy shit we're dead!" he cried. Harry was still trying to shake the fog out of his brain, pushing himself up onto all fours, he forced himself to repress the pain pulsing from his mutilated shoulder. He could hear Draco babbling about God and an afterlife but he elected to ignore him, eyes instead focused on pristine room they sat in.

"Oh my god," he breathed.

The large doors were pushed open and Harry watched as his old professor walked through the Great Hall towards them.

"What the hell is happening," he asked. He glanced over at Draco who was still pondering this after life. Dumbledore took out his wand, the very familiar wand that Draco had just snapped in two. Before the two boys could react, everything went black as they were stunned.

Notes- I have this whole story planned out. There was supposed to be about 20 chapters, but I have had this chapter sitting on my computer for months with nothing else written. If anyone wants to give me some much-needed inspiration or motivation to finish this I would be very grateful. Please leave a review!


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